Category «United States Law»

A Guide for the Perplexed Part III: The Amended Settlement Agreement

On Friday, November 13, 2009, Google, the Authors Guild, and the Association of American Publishers filed an Amended Settlement Agreement (ASA) in the copyright infringement litigation concerning the Google Library Project. The amendments proposed by the parties are designed to address objections made by the U.S. Department of Justice and copyright holders to the original proposed settlement agreement. This paper by Jonathan Band describes the ASA’s major changes, with emphasis on those changes relevant to libraries.

Subjects: Copyright, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Search Engines

The Government Domain: A Handful of Classics

Peggy Garvin has updated her directory of useful government information resources online, the e-Government and Web Directory: U.S. Federal Government Online. Her research has found that federal web sites do not change as rapidly as users believe. The content on these sites is dynamic, constantly being refreshed and redesigned. However, the sites themselves, the ones that represent so much of the work of the federal government and are selected for inclusion in the book, are fairly stable.

Subjects: Congress, Government Resources, Legislative, United States Law

PACER Spending Survey

Stanford Law School deputy library director Erika Wayne describes an open source document access project focused on improving PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), sponsored by a small group of research savvy and customer service oriented law librarians.

Subjects: Court Resources, E-Government, Features, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Public Records

The Government Domain: Tracking Congress 2.0

With the 111th Congress of the United States reconvening on September 8th, e-gov expert Peggy Garvin highlights new tools and sources that enhance and expand your ability to track and monitor the action.

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, Government Resources, Legislative, The Government Domain

Criminal Justice Surveys and Public Opinion Polls

Ken Strutin’s article examines key sources for surveys and public polling concerning the criminal justice system. In addition to overview studies about the application of surveys to criminal justice, the selected topics include: crime, criminal histories, death penalty, public defense, sentencing, sex offenses, treatment, and reentry.

Subjects: Criminal Law

FOIA Facts: The Detainee Photo Issue – Is it What it Seems?

Scott A. Hodes comments on the Obama administrations’ decision to continue to fight the release of detainee photos.

Subjects: FOIA Facts, Freedom of Information, Government Resources, Legal Research

Can Collaboration Solve Copyright Status Questions? The WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry

As Roger V. Skalbeck documents, one of the underlying obstacles to reproducing older books is a central place to look for information about what is protected by copyright and what may have passed into the public domain is lacking. Responding to this need, OCLC recently introduced a beta service, the WorldCat Copyright Evidence Registry (CER). It could be a very valuable resource for recording and sharing copyright status information.

Subjects: Copyright, Features, Search Engines

Researching Australian Law

This comprehensive guide by Nicholas Pengelley and Sue Milne includes primary and secondary research resources in the following areas: Parliaments and Laws, Finding Australian Legislation, Finding Australian Cases, Treaties, Journal Literature, Legal Encyclopedias, Law Reform, Government Information, Dictionaries, Directories, Legal Research Guides, Publishers, Current Awareness, Discussion Lists, Information Brokerage and Major Texts.

Subjects: Government Resources, International Legal Research

Criminal Law Resources: Social Networking Online and Criminal Justice

The activities of users and the information being posted on social networking sites are having wide ranging effects on the administration of justice, law enforcement investigation, prosecution and defense. Ken Strutin’s guide provides a snapshot of many of the novel and varied uses of social networking evidence in the field of criminal justice.

Subjects: Criminal Law, Legal Research, Legal Technology, Technology Trends

Researching Intellectual Property Law In The Russian Federation

Julian Zegelman’s research guide is intended to assist its users with research of Russian intellectual property law by a) describing the primary sources of intellectual property law in the Russian Federation; and b) listing a number of secondary sources that interpret and comment on intellectual property law in the Russian Federation.

Subjects: Features, Intellectual Property, International Legal Research